What's your favorite self-defense ammunition?

I personally carry loaded with team never quit frangable hollowpoints, but I always keep a spare mag or two with hornady critical defense on me. The thought process being that frangable rounds while devastating to flesh have less over penatration potential then most other types of ammo however heavy clothing, light body armor, ect. Being a possiblity I want a harder hitting round just in case

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I like Speer Gold Dot, everything I researched showed reliable performance, and expansion.

I burn off my carry ammo about once a year. Just from chambering round several times you can push the round further into the casing and increase pressures to dangerous levels.

This happens just from taking the gold dot rounds in and out of the gun for range practice with FMJ or regular cleanings.

The self defense rounds find themselves getting chambered more then they should, so once a year I burn them off and replace them.

Mike

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I carry Federal HST 9mm 124 grain HP. For range ammo I use American Eagle 124 grain FMJ. I agree about ā€œrotating the stockā€. Every few months you should fire some of your defense ammo, just make sure you have enough on hand to replace it.

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Gold Dot 124gr +P, pretty accurate and reliable from my test firings. Been carrying them for over a year now. As a matter of fact, I just got fresh ones in today.

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For my 229ā€™s in .357SIG I roll with the 125 grain Gold Dot JHP from Underwood. For some reason my 320 does not like the Underwood gold dot but it loves the regular 125 grain gold dot JHP from Speer. For my .40ā€™s I roll with the 180 grain Remington Golden Sabre black belt because I like a bonded bullet. In .45 I like the 230 grain Winchester Ranger T. I have sold all of my nines except for my wifeā€™s Glock 19 and itā€™s loaded with the 124 grain +P Speer Gold Dot.

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For my 40, I use Remington Golden Saber 160ā€™s. Always reliable. At the range, I burn through my two mags (20 rounds plus one) of Remingtons, practice 50-100 rounds of Winchester white box, then reload with the Remingtons.

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This payday Iā€™m gonna buy some HPs to replace my FMJ. Iā€™m not carrying with intention to use right now. Iā€™m trying different Carry methods to get used to it.

Iā€™m open to suggestions.

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Sig v crown 147 grain 9mm, Hornady critical duty for the 10mm, and Hornady critical defense for the .357, or Federal hst in .38spc.

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I carry a mix of Federal HST 147gr., and Hornady Critical Duty. The HST round performs well in the gell test, and the Duty round is excellent for barriers. I carry at work and work in a welding shop. If needed, I could require either option. I never shoot target ammunition.

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I carry Hornday Critical Defense as well. 9mm

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Lucky Gunner had a good review of SD ammo. After looking at their results as well as other reviews, I picked a few of the ones I wanted and ordered a box of each and fired them at the range. I ended up choosing the Federal HST 9 mm 124 grain.

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I honestly donā€™t think with the market today, any company could produce an absolutely terrible cartridge and make it for long.

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Here is an interesting blog article about Sig ammo: https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/blog/good-ammo-not-hard-find/

Hadnā€™t considered it before.

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I use that stuff in my 10mm from time to time, itā€™s 30 some odd $ a box. Normally I use Herters, but with Herters Iā€™ll get FTF or 2 in every box because of how hard the primers are. You run into some manufacturing issues with cheap cartridges in that caliber from my limited experience and internet searches. But, itā€™s cheap and allows me to shoot more.

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I used to also carry Critical Defense. When the Federal HSTā€™s came on the market though, I watched several videos of side by side gel comparisons and switched. Critical Defense is an outstanding round though, and I like the low flash powder feature so you wonā€™t lose your night vision. It was designed for the smaller semi auto pistols according to the Hornady website.

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I have critical duty with my G21s, critical defense with my G23 and G26. For my 12ga I have critical defense 00 and fiocchi slugs.

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At the Range on Friday, had bought some Blazer Brass (never used before) for range ammo. Everything was great until I found one that was setback. Dropped it in the safe can. Wonā€™t buy Blazer Brass again. After shooting Winchester and Remington for years, never found a defective one. I know mistakes happen, but why would I chance it again when I know the quality of the others has never failed me?

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Itā€™s happened to me with Winchester as well. Just something to watch out for.

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Iā€™ve heard of people having issues with Blazer Brass, as well as thoughts of it shooting dirty. I use Federalā€™s American Eagle FMJ for range and training. Never had an issue and is pretty much the same price as Blazer Brass.

I also like to use ammo that has the same listed muzzle velocity and energy as my carry ammo.

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Just make sure your gun likes the ammo as much as you do. 200 round, minimum, test with no failures, cycles well and make sure your point of aim / point of impact are consistent. My Glock 19 doesnā€™t like critical defense, wild pattern, but it loves the LE Gold Dots I carry. My 17 likes either. Each gun I have has certain likes and dislikes as far as ammo choices and yours does too, if you shoot it enough.

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